Corpse Party: Asbestos
by turtaniumX
Summary: Asbestos is a material that heat-resistant and chemical resistant. It can also refer to the personality of a person in the context of unbeatable. More over, asbestos can also mean lung cancer. This is a story from both Yoshiki and Ayumi's perspective, and also where the Sachiko Ever After charm doesn't screw them over.
1. Chapter 1

This is the first fanfiction/story whatever that I've published to this site. It's the first actual "story" that I've written. I don't know how to explain it.

* * *

It was a cold time for him, when all hope has been lost. Where can he possibly turn to? You would expect him to know where he was going, but you couldn't possibly have known. And yet, when he felt betrayed and cold inside, he still had no sympathy left for anyone.

He was an ordinary man living alone in the suburbs of an ill-treated metropolis. It was only just then did he realize his mistake for his actions. _For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction._ That was Isaac Newton's third law.

"_You can't hide from yourself forever,"_ his self-conscious told him. _"It'll haunt you until the day you die."_

That wasn't the exact words of hope that he was looking for. He forced himself off the cold floor and began to walk towards the door of his room. As he stepped out into the hallway of his apartment, he had no memory of what he was doing. Yoshiki had no ability to recall the last thing he was doing last night.

When he reached the kitchen, there was a little slimmer of light coming from the direction of the window. He hastily went over to his phone lying there on the counter. His hands were trembling nervously when he went over to pick it up. He switched it on, the time reading 6 AM along with a new text message.

"_**Hey, I know what you're thinking. I know how you feel, young one. I know you, but you don't know me. You don't know yourself."**_

He didn't have any clue what the cryptic message meant. He put the phone down and wandered around to inspect his living quarters some more. Everything else seems to be normal; nothing out of the ordinary. He sighed as he went back to his bedroom, eager to continue his dozing sleep from where he left off. Yoshiki was never a believer in lucid dreaming, but he could probably induce it if he really tried. He's already done part of the technique yet, all he needs to do now is doze off while concentrating on dreaming.

Another hour went by as he lay there, motionless in his bed. He woke up again with a loud thud. He'd just rolled off his bed and was trying to put the pieces together.

The clock read 5 AM. _"Wasn't this 6 AM, or is this clock backwards?"_ he thought. As Yoshiki figures out the truth, he found out that the last time he was awake was in fact in dreaming. He didn't forget this particular dream. He didn't forget this dream. _"Why?"_ Yoshiki thought once more. _"Why would I be able to recall this specific dream? I don't have..."_

His willpower was cut off from a sudden lack of energy. He hadn't had the faintest idea and just before he was able to realize what was happening, his surroundings abruptly dropped in darkness.

It was a Wednesday morning when he came to. Yoshiki didn't roll out of bed this time, he simply fainted on the ground from when he was last awake. He started questioning reality, but those thoughts soon passed over.

**"It's 7:47. Haha, I bet I'll be pretty late, he." **Yoshiki chuckled again and again on his way to the bathroom.

He was able to finish his preparations for school and started prepare his breakfast. Everything had happened so fast that he wasn't able to process it all. He still felt drowsy from his absolute lack of sleep these past two days. Yoshiki then donned a white shirt and over a grey hoodie. He preferred to leave it unzipped. He proceeded to put on some black pants and shoulder his backpack.

When he was sure he was done, he opened the front door and stepped out into the thoughts went through him and just like that, he was on the stairwell. His home was only on the second floor so he didn't have that much of a descent. The stairs were thoroughly covered with patches of dust on the sides. The environment seems rather dull for such a spacious building, as there was a worn out sofa in a room of which was once the lobby. That was the only piece of furniture on the first floor.

Yoshiki stepped outside into the real world. He wasn't actually dreaming this time. His lack of sleep has done things to his mind. It was mostly lacking brain power, and his thoughts became number as he trudged away on the concrete sidewalk. He checked his phone for the time, which read _8:12 AM. _He wasn't going to be as late as he thought he was. He decided to pick up the pace when the rain started piss down.

The academy eventually came into view in the midst of the pouring rain. He was met with a sudden rush of fatigue as he slowed his pace. _"Man,"_ he thought, _"I haven't been keeping in shape."_ It would make sense, having been lazy the last few days. Yoshiki drew another conclusion that his lack of sleep could be to blame.

Yoshiki proceeded to open the door leading into the high school and he felt a rush of indoor air over his face as he did so. He proceeded to put away his shoes and swap them for indoor shoes and found a bulletin board with a list of all the students in which homeroom along with various posters about school clubs scattered around with the occasional anime drawing. Surprisingly, the board wasn't crowded with people at all. Finding his name on the 1-5 homeroom class list, he proceeded to skim the names to find no one that seemed familiar. He scratched his head and walked around the new high school. The delinquent didn't know how he got into high school; he was barely able to pass the entrance exam required for all first year students.

Ayumi Shinozaki was sitting around on one of the various benches at school. He noticed a blonde boy walk by as she was browsing her phone waiting for class. The time on her display read _8:23 AM_. She continued to read about ghost stories on the web. She was especially interested as her family had a history of occult topics, not to mention her hobby of reading ghost stories. Her family was always considered weird by many, but she shrugged those remarks off ever since elementary. She was just about to finish reading when the bell rang, signalling homeroom period. Finishing up and closing her flip phone, she made her way to her homeroom, 1-3.

Yoshiki was just entering his homeroom when he was hit in the head by a wooden stick affixed across the doorway. He ducked under it as his head was bruising, silently cursing it in the process; the classmates behind him were silently giggling while trying to not get hit in the process. Eventually, Yoshiki found a seat near the back of the room. The date on the board read _April 5th, 2007._ The classroom was littered with many postings about the samurai. He figured he was either interested in the samurai or a history teacher, the latter being his most favorable choice to go with. A kabuto hung from the wall the front of the room along with various pieces of bamboo armor and a katana. He debated if the katana was real or not. The blonde was almost finished observing his surroundings when the bell rang a second time, signalling that homeroom had started. The teacher, seemingly in his mid-30s was a tall one who was clean-shaven. He was also well toned, which gave the impression that he was also a PE teacher.

"**Alright class, listen up. My name is Mr. Hosokawa," **the teacher started, **"I understand that this is your first year in Kisaragi High. I am your homeroom teacher for the year, 1-3. I'm also a history teacher and the PE teacher for second year students."** The class was seemingly paying attention due to his authoritarian-like voice. The impression of his voice told the class that no one should be messing around with somebody like this. Yoshiki however had thoughts in his head that were against his message.

"**Now, I expect all of you to attend class on time, be dressed properly in your uniforms****—which I will hand out shortly—and also follow my rules and the school policy every day. As long as you go by my words, we should all get along." **the teacher finished. Yoshiki was still in his train of thought, only half of the attention focused on his words; the others were focused on his future in school. He wasn't interested in school at all. The blonde's eyelids began to close as he started to drift off into sleep.

"**I am what I am, a believer at that. Believer of none but of lack. Lack of the knowledge that is precious here. Can anyone tell me who I am referring to?" **Ayumi was in her homeroom when the teacher walked in and asked that riddle. She was still trying to comprehend the teacher's riddles. She was never a big fan of solving riddles. There was a sense of frustration around the classroom as everyone else tried to solve it.

"**A dropout?" **one student asked.

"**Correct," **the teacher replied with a slight grin forming on his face. **"I expect all of you to not become what is a 'dropout' or a 'delinquent'. That is one of my expectations." **The class exhaled out as a sign of relief. _"The old man was going to be a tough one to talk with," _Ayumi thought with resentment. She hated teachers in general, and this one was on her nerves.

"**Hehe, I haven't introduced myself have I? My name is Mr. Yamada. I am your homeroom teacher, also teaching ethics here at Kisaragi." **The teacher began to hand out the school uniforms and IDs. **"Now, as you may have noticed, the school uniforms at senior high are different from junior high." **Ayumi picked up her uniform and name tag and observed them for a while. It was a tan-colored sailor outfit with a blue-collar and a yellow bow attached to a blue brooch to the top. It was also along with a blue skirt. She proceeded to attach her ID tag to her current attire, which was an orange hoodie. She stowed the uniform in her backpack for now.

Ayumi looked around her class. She was sitting in one of the front row seats with Naomi and Seiko not too far behind. _"They were bonding well," _she thought to herself. Both of the girls were friends since junior high and Ayumi were classmates with them before.

"**I have some things to announce, like the school opening ceremony and the entrance ceremony for you first years which will happen in around,"**—the teacher paused to look at his watch—**"five minutes from now. The entrance ceremony will happen after lunch." **Mr. Yamada began handing out school schedules as well as he continued. **"You're all going to be here for three years. Get comfortable." **He finished off with a smile as the bell rang.

"**Kishinuma!"** Yoshiki awoke with a start when the teacher yelled in his ears.

"**Y-yes, sir?" **he stumbled at the sudden scolding from his homeroom teacher.

"**So, you're the slacker I see. Is that correct?"**

Yoshiki was thinking of an answer to give to his menacing teacher. **"Uh... not exactly, sir."**

The teacher grinned. **"Ah, I see you walked right into the stick in the doorway. Haha, you remind me of one of my ancestor's pupils when he was a sensei himself," **the teacher said, jokingly. **"Both of you had blonde hair but he was from England apparently…" **Hosokawa was displaying an effort to remember the stories his parents had told him before. **"Bah, enough about that. You're off the hook for now since this is the first day, heh."**

Yoshiki sighed as his heart thumped. He was legitimately scared. **"Thank you, sensei."** As the teacher went back to handing out uniforms and IDs, Yoshiki noticed his uniform and schedule on his desk. It was the Kisaragi dark grey gakuran uniform. He decided not to take off his grey hoodie, even though some of his classmates were already wearing it.

As the bell rang, everyone stood up to follow the teacher. Yoshiki, not knowing what to do since he was asleep, followed his classmates out the door. Mr. Hosokawa eventually led the class to the gym where the entire school gathered for the school opening ceremony. "_I guess this was what I was not listening to when I was asleep,_" he thought. As they all walked into the gym, Yoshiki noticed a podium on the stage area along with Japanese flags and a banner that said 'Kisaragi High School Entrance Ceremony.' All the homerooms sat together as they are grouped by year.

The ceremony went by in a blur, with many speeches from various faculty members and the vice-principal along with the principal. Lunch eventually came and the hallways became parades of people from the dispersing of the gym. The cafeteria soon became the most populated place in the school which was expected during lunch hour. Students from all grades soon stood in the line-up to buy cafeteria food, then either find a seating area in the cafeteria or eat in their homerooms. Among the people in the line was Yoshiki, waiting to buy lunch. The line eventually shortened and it was his turn. He picked up the lunch trays and proceeded to add a bowl of rice on his tray along with some utensils and nothing else.

Yoshiki began to wander the halls of the high school when he found a sign called 'roof access'. He proceeded to follow the direction of the sign into a stairway leading up into a door that he assumed lead to the roof. He slowly moved the door ajar when suddenly he was caught with a fresh breeze on his face. It's been a while since he has met the sensation of the outdoor air. Stepping out on to the roof, he noticed that he had a pretty clear view of the city and the outdoor surroundings. He slowly crept forth to the handrails that prevented people from simply walking off. Yoshiki decided this place would be a good place to eat his lunch. After all, he hated eating inside the school with other people; he simply preferred to be alone.

Ayumi was on her way to the gym where the entrance ceremony was taking place. She was nervous since the entrance ceremony was also when all the class representatives had their speeches. She was told that people who wanted to be class reps had to prepare a speech during the summer and send a copy of it to the council. The gymnasium was looking different from the first time they went in for the school opening ceremony. There were some women in the doorway leading to the gym dressed in kimonos standing along with some students. She assumed that they were their mothers, knowing that they are proud of them for attending high school since high school wasn't mandatory. Everyone was given time during lunch to dress up in their school uniforms, and she looked down at hers. It fit her nicely, and she liked that. She never liked uniforms that exposed too much. She found her homeroom and she paraded in along with the rest of her class into the gym.

The vice-principal began the ceremony with introducing the principal, Takamine Yanagihori. He delivered a speech that addressed the first years in the school, personally wishing those best of luck for the next three years. Next are the new student introductions where they introduced all the first year students. They went over the homerooms in numerical order, with the entire homeroom going up on stage and having each person's name called out to bow to the principal, with the principal returning the bow. When it was 1-3's turn, Ayumi was told to stay behind for her speech. She was given her cue card to read from as she remained in the curtains. Shortly after 1-3 was done and 1-4's, it was 1-5's turn.

"**Yoshiki Kishinuma,"** the principal called out. There was no answer from the crowd of his homeroom. The principal asked again. **"Yoshiki Kishinuma?" **Silence. He wasn't present at the ceremony. Ayumi noticed the homeroom teacher looking around for him but seemingly to no avail. **"It appears that he is absent for this ceremony."** It soon returned to normal but the school was still dwelling on that thought. It was shameful to miss such an important and formal ceremony. "_Whoever this person is will be starting off high school with a reputation,_" Ayumi thought.

The rest of the ceremony eventually went on, finishing the introductions and moving onto the speeches. It began with the Board of Education's speech, followed by the student council. The last part of ceremony was the speeches from all the class reps. When it was Ayumi's turn, she was nervous but she calmed herself down in the moments before her turn. She stated in her speech that she cared about the well-being of others, thinking of Yoshiki in that moment. What was Kishinuma's deal? Her speech was soon over and she went to sit back down with her homeroom. The last part of the ceremony was the teacher introductions. She noticed 1-5's homeroom teacher looked pretty menacing. "_If Kishinuma had that person for his homeroom teacher then he's in for a rough ride_," she lingered. The ceremony closed with another speech from the principal and the students were taken back to their homerooms.

The bell rang and Yoshiki woke up and glanced at his phone. It was 3:50 PM, the time when the school ended. He glanced around, trying to remember where he was. There was a lunch tray with a rice bowl from the cafeteria next to him. He soon realized he fell asleep on the roof. Getting up, he stretched and cracked a few bones and went off the roof back down the same stairwell he used. Walking out of the school, he went straight to the music store he worked in. A part-time job was what he needed to do if he wanted to afford rent and pay his phone bills.

The blonde stepped into the guitar shop, seemingly dressed in his casual clothes. He didn't change into his uniform at school since he had no idea of the entrance ceremony.

"**Why hello, Kishinuma." **A voice came and he looked over to his manager who was bowing. Yoshiki briefly returned the bow. **"Ready to start your shift?"** Yoshiki nodded as he took his place at the cashier's stand. Yoshiki kept looking over at the wide variety of guitars laid about the place. There were acoustics, electrics including famous brands such as Gibson and Fender. Also among the choices were bass guitars and several of other guitar accessories like bags and straps. "Playing the guitar is the only thing I'm good at," he thought, "it's the only thing I don't get yelled at for doing."

The clock struck 7:00 PM as Ayumi was walking down the steps of the high school. Her student council meeting was over and it was droned on a bit late but she didn't mind. Walking down the streets of her neighborhood in the silent night, she noticed a lone person walking on the sidewalk. It was a blonde haired boy with grey eyes, couldn't be older than 17. "_Wait,_" she thought. "_Isn't this the same person I saw at school_?" They both walked by each other, looking at each other in the process.

"_She's wearing the school uniform,_" Yoshiki thought as he was walking home from work. Not like he cared anyway. He never cared.

* * *

I decided to make it 2007 because


	2. Chapter 2

Yoshiki detected a hint of morning breath as he woke up. He flipped open his phone to check the time. _Wednesday, April 7th, 2007 - 7:10 AM. _Thursday was the latest day he went to school. He has skipped ever since, but today a thought crossed his mind. A thought to go to school. _I mean, there has to be a point if I passed that entrance exam, right?_

He took advantage of the time he woke up at to get ready to head off to school. The routine was the same aside from the clothing. He had donned the Kisaragi dark grey gakuran, unbuttoned. Over top of it was the white shirt that was also part of the dress code. The delinquent envied foreign country school systems, since some of them don't have a specific school uniform. He always hated following orders.

Making his way to the school along the familiar path he had walked on a few days ago as the route to Kisaragi, he suddenly remembered that the first period was PE. Since he became out of shape over the summer, he wouldn't do too well in that particular subject. Furthermore, he had no idea of the PE unit that his class was doing anyway but that was the nature of his life; having no clue about what's going on has always been a reason in his life.

Entering the school and making his way to his homeroom after changing shoes, the bell rang and he was seated in the familiar spot that he was once seated on the first day of high school. It practically became his bed in the two days that he had come to school. Some eyes were laid on him as he began to close his eyes to start his sleeping routine.

But it wasn't long until he heard the well-known voice of his teacher. "**What's the matter, Kishinuma? You've been absent for three days in a row.**"

Yoshiki merely glanced up at his teacher and shrugged before returning to snooze off. Hosokawa wasn't surprised at all, really; he had dealt with these types of students before. Sighing, he turned to the attendance sheet to mark him as present for today with a checkbox, catching sight over at the other three empty boxes from the past days of school.

As the bell rang, Yoshiki woke up for the second time and followed his classmates to the gym. In the change room, he switched his uniform into the school's gym strip—it wasn't anything special, just a white Kisaragi t-shirt with basketball shorts. There were also tracksuits as well if it got cold.

Looking around and noticing nobody was nearby, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and his lighter. Taking out a single-stick, he stowed the rest of the pack in his bag and put the cigarette in his mouth. After lighting it and inhaling, he felt the familiar head rush enter and engulf him with the sense of calm as he exhaled.

"**Are you smoking in there?**" a voice inquired, sounding irritated from the smell.

Quickly turning, he recognized his PE teacher, Mr. Tsubota, standing in the change room with him.

"**Well... uh,**" he stammered.

"**You're that Kishinuma guy, right? The guy who skipped the ceremony?**" he said, a slight grin forming on his face.

Yoshiki was a bit confused at first at his words. There was only one ceremony, right? "**I'm sorry, sir, but I don't know what ceremony you're talking about.**"

The grin quickly faded and turned into a frown. "**Are you serious?**" Tsubota snapped. "**Are you saying that you didn't know? You know the entrance ceremony.**"

So that's that Yoshiki missed on Thursday. That's why everyone else was dressed in their uniforms and heading to the gym. He thought there was only one ceremony to go to. "**I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know,"** he replied, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"**Well, well,**" the teacher said, chuckling, "**I think the both of us are going to get along **_**just **_**fine. Now, if you smoke again, you'll be facing expulsion. Is that clear?**"

"**Yes, sir,**" Yoshiki sighed, dumping away the cigarette in his hand.

"**Now, go join the rest of your class,**"—he motioned towards the exit—"**they're waiting**."

The day went on normally for him after that little debacle. He hated his PE teacher; in fact, Yoshiki would even go far as to consider Tsubota as the worst teacher he had so far. Math and English came by in his second and third periods and it was soon turned into lunch hour.

* * *

Ayumi was sitting on one of the cafeteria benches with her cafeteria food, which was a chicken and egg dish. It was a seemingly plain cafeteria entrée. Naomi and Seiko were not far from her, talking about the start of high school. It's only been three days since they started high school. Suddenly, Satoshi came up and joined them after waiting in line to buy his lunch.

"**Did you hear about that Kishinuma guy?**" Satoshi began. Ayumi's eyes perked up at the mention of his name.

Naomi glanced over to him. "**Yeah, he was the one that skipped the ceremony right?**"

Satoshi merely nodded. Ayumi who had listened to their conversations suddenly started talking.

"**You know, I don't really understand why some people are like that.**"

Seiko giggled. "**Hehe, and some people don't understand why I'm like this—**"

"**Ah, Seiko, what are you—"** Seiko leaned over to Naomi and proceeded to grab her chest and hugged her tightly. Naomi quickly pushed her off, her cheeks red from the sudden outburst. The fact that her friends and some other people are looking didn't help the situation.

Seiko leaned in close to Naomi's ear. "**Look at Mochida. Won't you think he's a bit… jealous?**" she whispered, grinning.

Ayumi shook her head while Satoshi scratched his head at the scene that was presented. Naomi's blush was getting redder and redder.

"**N-no,**" Naomi stammered. Seiko winked at Naomi at her reply and continued on with her lunch casually.

Ayumi was eager to know who this Kishinuma person was. "**He's a blonde, right?**"

"**Yep. Bleached I bet,**" Satoshi said.

Ayumi started to think back and recognized him. He was that blonde guy that she had walked by so many times before. Sighing, she turned back to her lunch when suddenly she noticed from the big glass window in the cafeteria something falling from the roof. Dismissing it as a leaf, she started to eat her sandwich.

Yoshiki blinked and let out a dry cough as he exhaled the fumes from the cigarette. He threw away the cigarette down from the roof of the building. He got up from leaning on the handrail and looked around. It was a nice view of the city from the roof. This is where he'd always been every lunch hour at Kisaragi. His blonde hair and his loose school uniform were whipped around in the sudden breeze of the spring weather. _I feel like I should do something instead of slacking off all the time…_

The lunch period ended and Yoshiki decided to go to his 4th and 5th period classes. After all, he hadn't seen a lot of the class work since he skipped two class days already. The first period in his afternoon was science, something he could never care about. The last one, however, was a socials or a history class; Yoshiki couldn't really decide which subject it was. It was taught by his homeroom teacher—Oda Hosokawa— who had been hot on his case ever since he arrived to high school.

The lesson began with a textbook reading about the modern society of Japan, and then some assigned in-class questions. Yoshiki, like how he did in science, eventually fell asleep. Hosokawa noticed him sleeping in the back and he decided to settle the problem. He started to walk up the aisle of desks over to his seat.

"**Kishinuma,**" he began. Yoshiki jolted up at his sudden voice and opened his eyes.

"**Yes, sir..?**"

"**Stay with me after school. You and I need to have a little chat.**" The teacher then returned to his front desk.

Yoshiki sighed in defeat and went back to sleep, still neglecting the work assigned on the board. It's only his second day here and he's already on the radar of two teachers. He couldn't do anything right. School was so boring to him and he didn't know what to do. None of the clubs really seem appealing to him either.

As school ended at 3:50 PM after cleaning and another homeroom block, Yoshiki had done what his teacher told him and stayed after school. His shift in the music store started later on Wednesdays so he was able to stay behind for some time.

When Hosokawa was sure the room was empty, he closed the door and sat beside Yoshiki. "**So,**"—he had an unusually calm demeanour—"**is there something going on at home? What's the problem here?**" he asked.

Yoshiki ran a hand through his hair. "**Well… my parents… they kicked me out over the summer, so I have to live on my own.**" he said, nervously. He had never talked about this subject to anyone else other than his family. He decided it was best to tell the truth.

Hosokawa nodded at his response, and Yoshiki kept talking. "**I'm just… not interested in school. There's nothing for me to do.**" he stated.

"**I see. Well, I think that's good enough for me. You can go now,**" Hosokawa said with a dismissive wave.

Yoshiki was relieved at the fact that he didn't yell at him. He was just starting to get up and head for the door when his teacher suddenly spoke again.

"**I'll be looking forward to see your parents at the conferences in June,**" he said, "**it's our first conference to be held at this school.**" There was a slight hint of a grin on his face.

Yoshiki nodded. "_**Yeah**_**, I bet,**" he replied, sarcastically. He proceeded to close the door as he stepped out into the empty hallway.

He stepped out into the outdoor land of the academy grounds and looked around. He took out his pack of cigarettes and took one out. Proceeding to shield the lighter from the wind with his hand, he lit the cigarette and stood there on the stairs of the entrance way, deep in thought.

_Conferences,_ he thought. _I guess we'll see what my parents think very soon, hehe._ He took a long drag at his next round and exhaled deeply into the cool air. It was still early April when spring is still fairly cold. _Summer's coming up soon, so what will I do over the summer?_

* * *

_6:00 PM._ Ayumi put away her cellphone and walked out of the art room. She'd just finished drawing alongside her art club friends and was headed for home when suddenly she remembered to ask Yoshiki's homeroom teacher. She crept along into the hallway that listed all the first year homerooms. "_1-3... 1-4… Ah, here it is. 1-5._"

Hosokawa was quietly working on the computer when he noticed a knocking coming from the door. "**Come in,**" he called out. The door slid open to show a blue-haired girl with two pigtails, suited in the school's uniform for girls. "**Ah, you must be the 1-3 class representative,**" he said, recognizing her from the speech she made. "**What can I do for you?**"

Ayumi shifted nervously. "**Well, I've come to ask about Kishinuma.**"

The teacher chuckled. "**Kishinuma, the one who's always sleeping,**" he began. "**He's not a normal high schooler, I'll tell you that.**"

"**What do you mean, exactly?**" She crossed her arms.

Hosokawa thought back to the words Yoshiki said to him earlier. "**He has family troubles. He lives on his own.**"

That explained a lot of things for Ayumi. She would've never had the courage to ask him directly about his life. She muttered a quick thank you and turned around and stepped out, closing the door behind her.

Yoshiki had just finished work and stopped by a McDonald's on the way home for his dinner. He did enjoy the taste of burgers and fries. Climbing up the stairs to his apartment on the second floor, he walked over to his door and unlocked it. When he was inside, he shut the door and locked it. Changing out of his uniform and back into casual clothing, he went over to the couch and sat there. He grabbed the remote with his left and switched on the TV while his right had a cheeseburger in his hand.

There wasn't really anything interesting on, so he shut the TV off after finishing his meal to clean up. Walking into his room, he picked up his guitar and plucked a few notes. The ambience of his apartment made him feel lonely and he started to play _Prelude in C Minor by Barrios_. He always hated barre chords, they always made his wrist feel weak after doing them. _You know, if school had a guitar club, I would at least find a purpose there._

He drifted his eyes off towards the window. It had turned dark over the course of five hours and the streets lay black in the night, lit up by the street lamps. _Hehe, I don't know myself, is that right?_ Sure, Yoshiki would consider himself as a delinquent at school. He could never be successful, could he? People say that if you believe in yourself, they will be successful. People say you don't need to be "popular" to get a good college degree.

A college degree. Is that what he wanted to aim for? He always hated to read music anyway. That's the thing. Yoshiki doesn't know what to do in his first year. He doesn't. There wasn't anything for him to show interest in. Maybe there was something, a specific way to life the high school life to get through…

* * *

"**Hey, Sis, you there?**" Ayumi was at her sister's room, waiting at the door for a response.

"**Hmm? Yeah, I'm here. Come on in.**"

Ayumi proceeded to open the door and walked in her room, slouching over on her way in. She noticed her sister sitting at her table, three candles lit up around the room. The eerie sound of crickets chirped on through the night.

"**I see you slouching those tiny shoulders of yours. What's the matter?**"

Ayumi looked up at Hinoe to reveal to her that she had tears in her eyes.

"**Your cute little face is all stained with tears!**" She motioned for Ayumi to come over. "**Come on over. Let's hear it.**"

Ayumi ran over to her sister sitting in her chair and groaned. She then suddenly embraced her sister.

"**So, did you just want some quiet affection, or do you want to talk about it?**" Hinoe asked, taken aback by her sister's sudden emotions.

"**...I want to ask you something,**" Ayumi sniffled.

"**Oh? Alright then. Ask away.**"

"**It's about your work,**" she started, briefly pausing. "**How old were you when you decided this is what you wanted to do?**"

Hinoe smiled. "**Hmm… Good question. I guess…** **I was around your age, Ayumi.**"

"**Were you… sure that it's what you wanted to do?**"

"**I was. Because I**—" she hesitated for a moment, "**I trusted that a higher power was guiding me.**" She glanced around at some of the candles. "**There were certainly a lot of people opposed to the idea… heh, but I guess you knew that already, since you were there! Heehee…**"

Ayumi remembered the time when her sister had skeptical comments thrown about her job. It was a rather crazy one at that. "**You're really awesome, you know that, Sis?**" she remarked. "**I… don't have a lot of faith in my abilities.** **No matter what I do, I can never seem to bring myself to take that first step.**"—Ayumi was trying to hold back tears as she spoke—"**It just… scares me…**"

Hinoe started her usual philosophical talk, the type that she's known for. "**Self-confidence… Such a complex, vital thing, yet so deceptively simple-sounding. I know you have it in you, Ayumi, to do great things. I've seen your true potential blossoming for a long time now.**" She closed her eyes as she recalled her memories of her sister. **"It's a skill you've honed from trial after trial, hardship after hardship. All of which you've overcome through sheer force of will.** **But, what good are your accomplishments if you don't believe in yourself?**"

Hinoe noticed the change of feeling in her sister as they continued to embrace in each other's arms. "**You are Ayumi, the budding illustrator**—**always drawing in hopes that one day, your dream can become true. Ayumi, the dedicated…"**—she suddenly remembered what their parents had told Ayumi—"**Ayumi, the rebel… never letting Mom and Dad convince you to 'choose a more stable occupation,' no matter how many times they try." **She paused to notice Ayumi's change in expression. "**Ayumi, the dreamer… continuing to draw beautiful works of art, with such excitement and fire in those cute little eyes of yours. You know what I think? I think there's still another Ayumi hiding in there somewhere. An Ayumi with something bothering her.**"

"**Mmm,**" Ayumi mumbled, thinking of the right things to say.

Hinoe decided it's now time to let her sister do the talking. "**You can come on out now, troubled one. Let's hear what's on your mind.**"

Ayumi began. "**There are…**"—she choked on her tears—"**There are so many people who are so much better than I am! If you look on the net, they're everywhere… Thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of really good illustrators. It's all really disheartening, you know?**" She remembered the amount of detail in the illustration of one of her club mate's. "**It's like, no matter how much skill and luck I've got, I just keep thinking… they're my competition…"**

Ayumi slowly worked her way out from her sister's embrace and went over to lie on her bed and closed her eyes, fatigued from admitting her feelings. They both remained in silence until her sister started talking.

"**I have a friend who draws pictures for a living, actually,**" she began, "**and she wouldn't be where she is today if she hadn't taken some initiative. The only way to get ahead in life and achieve your dreams… is to take action.**" Ayumi quietly sniffled on the bed. Her sister then picked up a book from her table and walked over to Ayumi. "**Have you heard of this girl before?**" She motioned to the book she was holding. "**She's been making waves in the field of paranormal research, and is a pretty well-respected author to boot,**" she explained, handing the book over to Ayumi.

Ayumi was having trouble with the name. "**Hmm… how do you read the characters in her name? Saeno...ki?**"

"**Saenoki Naho,**" Hinoe corrected her sister. "**She's been putting out book after book just like this for some time now, making a name for her in the process.**" She paused for a moment. "**Not only has she earned the respect of her peers, but literary circles are saying she's a strong contender for winning this term's Akutagawa award.**"

Ayumi was amazed at hearing this. She was very impressed by the amount of effort this one person can make and get nominated for such an important award.

"**The most interesting part, though,**" she added, "**is that she's about the same age as you, Ayumi.**"

"**Mm? Mmm…**" Ayumi was stunned to hear that fact. Maybe she could achieve what she thought before was impossible. She started to get up from the bed.

Hinoe's soothing voice continued. "**What's more is, she didn't learn her writing or problem-solving skills from any teacher. No, apparently she just kept on writing stories and essays until she was satisfied. Because for her, writing is pure, fun and simple.**

Ayumi opened her eyes. "**Fun, huh…**"

"**You need to have faith,**" she reminded, "**Never forget why you got into illustration in the first place… and if at first you don't succeed, **_**try**_**, try again!**" Hinoe started to smile once more. "**I struggle with this sort of thing all time time, but I just keep reminding myself that this is what I was meant to do. It's what I love, hehe…**"

Ayumi had it decided and set in her mind. She stood up from the bed. "**Okay, Sis,**" she started.

"**Hmm?**"

"**You win. I'm going to keep at it… until I become a full-on professional!**" Ayumi was determined to do so. After all, that Naho girl is her age and the amount of success she had now… she was determined to take that starting action.

Hinoe smiled. "**That's the spirit**," she said cheerfully.

"**And you know what else?**" Ayumi stated. "**This contemporary of mine… Naho, was it? Mark my words…"** She hesitated; her blue eyes showed that she was fantasizing. "**One day, I'm going to be the girl they contract to design the cover of one of her books**."

"**Are you now?** **Well, that sounds fantastic,**" Hinoe said proudly. "**I'll be awaiting that day with bated breath.** **I'll show your book to all my clients and say, 'Look at this! My little sister drew it! Isn't it wonderful?**' "

Ayumi was blushing at that thought. "**So you'll… support me?**"

"**Of course**," she replied, noticing her sister's drastic change in tone. She had cried a few minutes ago, and now…

Ayumi suddenly ran up to her sister and began hugging her again. "**I love you so much, Sis!**" she cried, tears of joy in her eyes. They both giggled. She was determined to make it, to put that foot down on the first step. She had a dream now, a dream that her parents couldn't stop no matter how hard they tried. That Ayumi with something bothering her was now gone.

"**I'll always be rooting for you, Ayumi…**"


	3. Chapter 3

Yoshiki opened his eyes to the sound of the doorbell. He glanced out the window as he woke up. It was summer, so the sun was out and shining. The trees that stood out in the street shadows a portion of the ground beneath and he looked away when a car drove by, the reflection from the sun bouncing back in his eyes.

He looked around quickly to find his phone and checked the time. _Wednesday, August 3rd, 12:21 AM_. At this time, school would be having it's lunch hour but Yoshiki has seemingly slept in for the majority of the school day. Great, he thought. The person at the door was some teacher who was looking for him.

Still dressed in his night clothes, he started to force himself off of his bed and make his way to the doorway. From there, he turned over in the direction of the front door and kept walking. When he reached the door, he took a breath before opening it, expecting a staff member to be standing there.

"**Hey, Yoshiki.**"

What he didn't expect was to see her sister, dressed in the junior Kisaragi uniform consisting of a blue smock and a pink bow tie attached to a white collar. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder.

"**Yuki, what are you doing here?**" Yoshiki asked, slightly surprised.

"**Well, they let me go out for lunch today. Figured I could check up on you.**" She paused to check the hallway as if to check if anyone were to eavesdrop. "**Can I come in?**"

Yoshiki nodded and closed the door behind her and she walked in.

"**Parents probably won't let us see each other, and the conferences didn't really help.** **They got to hear every bad aspect what you seem to be.**"

Yoshiki let out a huge sigh. "**Yeah, I have a rough time in high school,**" he said bitterly. He hasn't brushed his teeth yet so his breath still felt bad in his mouth.

Miki took a look around his living conditions. "**Not bad of a place for a part time job,**" she commented. It was decent enough for one person to live in. The air was humid and the air conditioner broke down, and Yoshiki left it unfixed for a while.

"**I need to brush my teeth since I just woke up.**"

Miki nodded and Yoshiki walked into the bathroom. She sat down on the couch and continued to observe her surroundings. Some of the wallpaper was starting to rip off. The sun was pouring into the interior from the lone window in the kitchen.

She heard the door open and noticed Yoshiki was finished.

"**You know, I miss having you around.**" Her voice was sounding weary.

"**What? Why?**" Yoshiki asked, not expecting it.

"**You were always the only one… who was nice to me,**" Miki admitted. "**And now, I'm the only child in the family, so all of their attention and pressure is on me.**"

Yoshiki shrugged. "**I had to do what I had to do.**"

Miki nodded and opened her backpack and placed a take-out box on the table. "**I saved some sushi for you, Yoshiki.**" She smiled before standing up and heading for the door. "**Please, stay in school,**" she called out as she opened the door.

"**I'll think about it**," he replied.

Yoshiki watched as she shut the door walked out into the hallway. He sat there, contemplating the thought of going back to school. It should be easy, he thought. Just walk back in there and go to class. What could possibly go wrong?

Walking over to the table, he picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to eat the food quietly. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

"**You're crazy. Real crazy.**"

Ayumi was sitting on the carpet with one of her candles, setting up a ritual. Naomi and Satoshi were not far off, observing. The only source of light in the room was emitted from the candle Ayumi held in her hand.

Ayumi looked up to meet Satoshi in the eye.

"**I **_**am**_** crazy**,"

Naomi giggled as Ayumi continued with her ritual. Satoshi glanced at her phone for the time. _12:40 AM._Lunch is over in 20 minutes, he thought.

Suddenly, some muffled voices could be heard outside of the room, not too far off. They were hostile voices, directed at each other. Satoshi slowly made his way outside to investigate, creeping up slowly to the door. He hesitated before opening the door and peeked outside.

"**What are you gonna do tough guy? Fight me?**"

Satoshi noticed Yoshiki standing in the middle of the cafeteria, staring back at the student who mocked him. There was a certain feeling of tension in the air as spectators gathered around, ready to watch the fight that will most likely ensue. He noticed on his face that he had touched a nerve.

Yoshiki started to approach his opposer and the student who was once scoffing at him soon found his face on the floor as he was swiftly kicked in the face in retaliation.

"**What else am I going to do?**" Yoshiki hissed in clenched teeth. "**This place is boring and crappy as hell.**"

The student started to stand up, although slightly shaking. He hadn't expected this delinquent to actually _fight_ him. Blood ran down his nose as he struggled to meet Yoshiki's height. He didn't hesitate to attack him. Yoshiki sensed the attack coming and stepped aside. He swung back and hit him briefly in the gut. The sound of the gathering crowd increased with each swing.

Ayumi stood up from her uncompleted ritual, eager to see what all the commotion was about. Satoshi looked back at them as they approached the door to see for themselves.

She peeked out slowly, Naomi not far behind her. They couldn't get a good look at who was fighting with the crowd in the way. She glanced back at her candles and ran back to put them out before heading over to the cafeteria.

Satoshi asked in a rushed voice, slightly shocked. "**What are you doing?**"

"**I'm going to see what's going on,**" Ayumi replied, blowing out the last of her candles.

"**Uh, we'll come with you** **I guess,**" Satoshi stammered.

Naomi nodded slowly. "**I guess… but I don't really like seeing fights.**"

They made their way out of the classroom and made their way down the hallway and into the cafeteria. Pushing through the crowd, they reached a point where they could see the middle.

"**Kishinuma…,**" Ayumi said unconsciously. He stood facing a student who was sitting down against the wall, blood smears all over his face. Sweat poured down from the blonde's head and he briefly wiped it off. He turned around the face the crowd and noticed the same blue headed girl gazing. He returned the stare but noticed someone else approaching him. A teacher.

He grinned as he was told to go down to the principal's office. He followed the order obediently and exited the scene, leaving the injured student behind. His eyes locked on to Ayumi's as he walked out casually as if nothing had happened.

Ayumi shivered as his grey eyes eyed her coldly. She didn't expect someone like him to do something like that. She noticed some students approaching the victim as the crowd began to disperse.

"**What was that all about?**" Naomi asked, still fazed by the outcome of the fight. Satoshi shrugged and they all turned their heads towards the class rep. She was still staring off into the distance, motionless and deep in thought.

Naomi poked her in the arm briefly. "**Hello?**"

Ayumi shook her head as she suddenly began to regain consciousness. "**Huh? Yeah, I'm still here.**" She blinked as she saw the student walking out of the cafeteria, supposedly towards the infirmary. There was a moment of silence before Satoshi perked up.

"**Lunch is almost over I'm guessing,"**—he glanced at his phone to check the time—"**yeah, it's around 12:53 right now.** **See you guys in class!**" Satoshi left and Naomi and Ayumi were left standing there, still bewildered.

"**A fight like that never happens around here…**"

"**I think that guy's name was Kishinuma.**"

"**Best not to get on his bad side then. You saw what he did to that kid over there?**"

Ayumi and Naomi walked out of the cafeteria together, deciding it would be better to not eavesdrop on local conversations.

"**What was that all about?**"

They both were startled by the sudden question of the familiar voice of Seiko.

"**Oh, just some fight,**" Naomi replied.

Seiko's cheerful face turned a bit sullen. "**Oh, that's something different.** **Wish I was there to see it, though. What was it about?**"

Ayumi suddenly retorted. "**Can we not talk about it right now? I'm kind of, you know…**"

They stood outside their homeroom as their conversation came to an end. There was something unusual about that guy, something that made her feel bad inside.

* * *

Sorry for the lack of content, but there definitely wasn't a lack of school work and studying. I'll try to write more next time


	4. Chapter 4

The more he tried to stop, the more the effort eluded him. Yoshiki dreadfully stood in the locked bathroom stall, filling his lungs with smoke from his cigarette. He expelled it out through the venting of the room, although it was fairly weak. He checked the time on his phone, which read _Wednesday, October 28 - 2:00 PM._ The day after the culture festival.

As he whiffed out another puff of smoke, a familiar teacher's voice can be heard booming throughout the bathroom.

"**Kishinuma!**" The voice echoed. It was his PE teacher, Tsubota.

Ah crap, Yoshiki thought.

"**What's all that smoke I see?**" Tsubota asked in disgust. "**Get the hell out of that stall, right this instant!**"

Yoshiki sighed as he dumped the lit cigarette into the toilet and unlocked the stall. Tsubota motioned for him to follow him outside to the hallway. He folded his arms and spoke.

"**Hitting the tobacco again, were we?**"

"**Uh… well… no, sir.**"

Tsubota raised an eyebrow. "**Didn't I warn you what would happen if I caught you smoking again? Expulsion, that's what!**"

"**I'm sorry,**" Yoshiki apologized, albeit his tone was rather ungenuine.

"**You're a real problem child, you know that? Why do you even bother coming to school in the first place?**" He paused to let Yoshiki give an answer.

"**Heh…**"

Without a satisfactory reply, Tsubota continued to rant. "**Disowned by your parents… living on your own… got no friends… never go to class… Just because you hate school doesn't give you the right to throw fits and raise a ruckus all the time, mister!**" He stopped to cough for a bit. "**You're clearly not having fun here right? So why don't you just drop out? I really don't get it!**"

Yoshiki was slightly quivering from rage at this point.

"**It's not like you're trying to get into college at this point. With your home life as it is, that thought probably hasn't even crossed your mind!**" Tsubota remarked.

"**Uh… huh…,**" Yoshiki muttered absentmindedly.

Tsubota's mouth started to take shape of a grin. "**Wish I could ask your parents what they think of having a no-good kid in their family, but they never once show their faces around here. Not since the very first parent-teacher conferences we ever held. Wonder if they'd be embarrassed.**"

Yoshiki couldn't help but find some meaning in his words. "**My parents aren't exactly proud of me, shall we say.**"

"**Eh, that's not what I mean. I'm thinking of the big picture here; they're clearly just not good parents. If I had kids of my own, you'd better believe I wouldn't be half as lax with them as yours obviously are with you!**"

Yoshiki glanced at the clock in the hallway. 2:04 PM. It's been 4 minutes since he was caught.

"**The problem is, people are having kids when they're way too young. Before they become proper adults, they're popping up babies of their own! And bad parents raise bad kids. That's why there's so many brats like you in the world.**"

He's right about one thing, Yoshiki thought. There's no reason for me to stay in this school. It really is pointless. Noticing the teacher's evident grin, he thought that he should just beat the crap out of this jackass and then drop out.

"**People think as long as they pay school taxes or tuition, they're good mommies or daddies. Well, news flash: they're not! Hahaha!**" Tsubota laughed only briefly and stopped when he noticed Yoshiki's change in expression. "**Hmm? What's with that look?**"

Yoshiki stood there in contemplation. I've never hit a teacher before, he thought. Ah well, first time for everything.

"**Mr. Tsubota?**" A girl's voice came from behind. Yoshiki turned around to see the blue-haired girl, smiling.

"**Hehh? Well, if it isn't the class rep. What's up?**" The gym teacher's tone changed at the sight of Ayumi.

"**The vice principal is looking for you. You're needed back at the staff room.**"

"**Gotcha, thanks.**" He started to move and then stopped to speak again.

"**Hmm? Shinozaki, you've got great eyes, you know that? Always so clear and focused, haha. We instructors like your kind best of all. You ever have a problem, come talk to me about it, ok? Hahahaha…**"

She waited until he was out of sight and then her smile faded.

"**That guy's the worst**," she admitted.

"**...Thanks**," Yoshiki said.

Her expression changed into a resentful look and she looked at him in the eye. "**You're not really any better.**"

"**Huh**?" Yoshiki said in confusion.

"**You were thinking about hitting him just now, weren't you?**"

Yoshiki stood there in silence with nothing to say back.

Ayumi sighed. "**What a sad fate it would be to get kicked out of school over a pathetic excuse for a teacher like him…** **And you'd regret it later, no matter how much of a pain in the ass it might be and no matter how much you think it'll turn out in the end.**" She glanced around for a moment before continuing. "**Just stay in school, man! Bite your tongue and make it to graduation!**"

Yoshiki was keenly listening when he noticed a change in her tone.

"**Honestly…" **She sniffled and her face changed into that of a sorrowful look.

"**Why… why are you crying?**" Yoshiki asked, dumbfounded.

Ayumi quickly wiped her face. "**Ah… sorry. Whenever I give an impassioned speech like that, I always find myself tearing up a little.**"

She looked at the ground for a while before looking back up at him.

"**You're Kishinuma from class 1-5, right?**" she asked, recalling his name from before.

"**Yeah.**"

She smiled. "**I'm Shinozaki from class 1-3. Sorry… to have butt in like that,**" she said, slightly embarrassed. Her cheeks were turning red.

"**Uh, don't… worry about it…**"

"**Later**," she said quickly in good-bye. As she was walking away, Yoshiki called out to her.

"**Hey, when you told him the vice principal was calling…**"

Ayumi turned around and smiled once more. "**Heehee… I was lying, of course.**" She giggled for a bit before walking away.

"**Heheh…**" Yoshiki laughed for himself. It wasn't common for someone to care about him. He didn't know what to make of it.

After standing there in thought, he decided it would be best to go back to class. He wanted to stay in school now, after all. Ayumi gave her some reason to do so.

He walked into his homeroom classroom where there was a math lesson, a subject that he'd always hate. Some eyes were on him as he stepped over to his seat in the back of the room. He paid some kind of attention to the lesson and put some effort into completing the work assigned.

As the math block ended and the homeroom period came around, Hosokawa noticed his more attentiveness. Something must've changed his attitude for school, he thought. Yoshiki spent the rest of the block reading, something he hasn't done for a long time. It was just a simple manga comic about dragons.

Soon, school ended and Yoshiki walked around. He took out his phone and made a phone call to her sister, Miki.

"_**Hey Yoshiki, what's up?**_"

"_**I'm staying in school now. I'm going to try.**_"

"_**That's great! Just keep on working and maybe you'll get into college or something. Our parents have been pretty tense on me lately.**_"

"_**Yeah, I'd imagine.**_"

"_**I gotta go now. See ya around, Yoshiki!**_"

"_**See you.**_"

Yoshiki hung up and closed his phone. He recalled Ayumi's words. Staying in school, is that something he can do? He probably can. He knows it.

* * *

Ayumi was walking out of school. Art club was cancelled for today and there wasn't any student council meetings. It was convenient for her though, since she needs the time off. She noticed Yoshiki standing outside of the school and he started to walk away, putting his phone away in his pocket. He was walking the same direction Ayumi used to walk home. He probably lives near me, Ayumi thought. How come I never see him? Is it because he's usually late or never comes to school?

She passed that thought and headed home, Yoshiki still in sight on the opposite sidewalk. Zooming cars on the road made brief lapsed in vision but they were only brief, after all. It felt sort of, weird that she was following him, but that was the way to her home and nothing could change that. She hoped he wouldn't turn around and see her. Yoshiki scared her in a way, probably because he was a delinquent, or at least an ex-delinquent.

Once she reached her house, she took out her keys and went inside and closed the door, relieved that he didn't spot her. Hinoe was in the kitchen, nodding at her as she entered.

"**How was your day?**" Hinoe asked.

Ayumi was taking her shoes off. "**Fine, but I'm tired from yesterday.**"

"**I could bet on that, seeing as you're all class rep and everything.**" Hinoe winked as Ayumi made her way upstairs to her room.

Ayumi stood sitting on her bed, watching the sunset from her window. It had been a long day for her today. She barely had any sleep from the clean-up of the festival yesterday, so she was thinking about hitting the hay early. Of course, there was that Kishinuma guy. He's always acting like a delinquent. She didn't want him to be like that—she didn't want anyone to be like that.

She stood up and walked out of her room and to the kitchen, where she poured a glass of water to drink. Hinoe wasn't in the kitchen; she probably went back into her room. It was tiring today for her, and she was dehydrated. Making her way back to her room, the sunlight caught her in the eye from one of the open windows. She put up a hand to block it as she made her way back to her room, glass in hand.

Ayumi stared at her PSP on the table. It was a gift from her parents. She started to inch over towards it when suddenly she caught sight of her school work, piled on the table like a stack of bricks ready to be turned in a brick wall. A finished product. She couldn't procrastinate now; she needed to do her work. Games distract people, and she's not going to let that put her down. She glanced at her clock to check the time—4:30 PM. After a few moments, she picked up a pencil and started on her homework.

* * *

Time passed by slowly and the sun began to set. Yoshiki's job was off for a while, so he was back at his apartment concentrating on his school work. It was the first time Yoshiki had ever done his homework well. Previous attempts were half-assed at best since he never paid attention in class. Now, at least he showed some effort. He didn't want to call himself a delinquent anymore. At least, try not to.

Yoshiki stood up from his desk and looked outside. It was fairly dark out and the sun is almost out of view, but some of its light still shined somewhat throughout the sky. His eyes fell over the crosswalk outside for a moment before he closed the window blinds. He glanced at his acoustic guitar for a while but decided to call it a day. He needed some sleep after all.

Before he went to sleep, however, he was still hungry. Deciding it would be best to make his own food, he headed over to the kitchen. Searching the cupboards and cabinets for cooking utensils, he found a metal cooking spatula, measuring cups and pots and pans. He figured some of them came with the apartment when he bought it. Finding a cutting knife, he stared at it for a while before putting it down. He also found some salt and took those out as well.

Opening the refrigerator, he discovered that he'd been running low on groceries lately. There were plenty of eggs left, however, so he decided to make an omelette. He took out two eggs and placed them on the table. Not that he knew how to make one anyway. He checked the seemingly empty fridge once more to see that there were still some onions and butter left, so he took some and put them on the table. He had no idea why he'd bought them in the first place. _Ah well. First time for everything._ Those were the thoughts he had before he was about to hit his PE teacher.

After finding a cutting board and a bowl, he washed his hands first before heading off to his computer in his room to search on how to make an omelette. Reading an article, he now had a general idea of what to do and went back into the kitchen. He wasn't a great cook, but he can try.

First, he cracked the two eggs and put the insides in a bowl, discarding the shells to the side. He found a fork and used it to beat the yolks of the egg until they were consistent with the whites. Next, he put the onion on the cutting board to chop it carefully with the knife. Yoshiki cut the onion in half, taking care not to cut the root on the onion. He peeled the skin on the onion off from both sides and continued cutting. His eyes started to tear up as he sliced.

The words echoed in his mind as his eyes welled up. _Whenever I give an impassioned speech, I always find myself tearing up._ That particular remnant seemingly resonated throughout his desolate apartment, which was very quiet. It was something Yoshiki was accustomed to, living alone like this. Sighing after recalling Ayumi's words, he finished dicing up the onions and put them in the bowl. Mixing the ingredients together, his mindset soon drifted off into off-topic thoughts. Was she always like that? Crying?

Yoshiki continued to mix until he was satisfied. He grabbed one of the pans and put it out on the stove. He remembered that greasing the pan with butter would help, like they said it on the website. He soon poured the mixture onto the pan he had prepared on the stove. Clutching his metal spatula, he attempted to turn the stove on.

After fiddling around with the controls for a while, he finally heard the egg mix sizzle. He did as the website told him to: wait thirty seconds and then flip. Eggs were short to cook. Should be easy enough, he thought. He glanced at the clock on the stove display. _8:34 PM_. Waiting was part of his judgement on this one, no fancy device to keep track of the seconds.

Deciding half a minute has passed already, Yoshiki carefully flipped the egg with the spatula and waited as the sound of the egg sizzling filled the apartment. He could never flip like the chefs would on TV. Because they were professionals, they were born to cook. What was Yoshiki born to do?

Yoshiki's judgement made the call of another thirty seconds passing and he prepared the plate. Carefully sliding the cooked omelette on the plate, he let it sit there to cool. He hoped his cooking would render the food as edible; the sight of the omelette made his stomach growl.

He turned the stove off and started to clean the kitchen up, putting the dirty equipment in the sink along with any food waste in the trash. If this is what all the parents had to do for their kids, he thought, I could understand the result stress.

After cleaning up and achingly washed the dirty utensils, he found a fork and a butter knife and began to eat his finished product, still warm but not too hot. It tasted a bit dry for Yoshiki but it wasn't a major complaint. For his first dish cooked, he'd say it was decent, although it was a fairly easy one to make. He poured himself a glass of milk and continued to eat his omelette, drinking from his glass at various intervals.

Once Yoshiki was done, he put the dish and the knife and the fork along with the glass in the sink. He decided to go into his washroom to brush up and go to bed after that. He was pleased with himself for being able to cook something and not screw it up, like everything else. His parents hated him, but there wasn't anything he could do. They were bad parents, like Tsubota said.

* * *

_Click_. Ayumi put away her lead pencil after finishing the last stroke of writing for her homework. She glanced at the awash of papers spread across her floor. She had thrown them on the ground in frustration. Proceeding to pick them up, she started to recall why she had tossed them in the first place.

Her eyes fell over to the clock in her room. 10:00 PM. She'd spend around six hours on her school work. There was also a project assigned and it put some stress on Ayumi. Her eyes were drooping as she was exhausted from the sheer effort of completing her work and most of her project.

Ayumi put away her books and went to the washroom to brush her teeth. When she was done, she walked into her room and checks her laptop. There wasn't much happening with her friends at this time it seems. Normally, she'd expect a status update on Facebook from one of them, but she assumed the project took out their free-time.

Yawning, she closed the cover and approached her bed. Before she could reach it however, she heard a door knock and the sound of her sister's voice.

"**Can I come in?**"

"**Sure**," Ayumi replied, turning to sit on the edge of the bed.

Hinoe walked in and observed her sister dressed in her school uniform and smiled. "**You haven't changed your clothes since you got home?**" She noticed the heap of papers on Ayumi's desk. "**School work taking a toll on you?**"

Ayumi nodded with a sour expression evident on her face. It can get frustrating at times to do homework, especially when there's a lot thrown at once.

"**Say, Naho updated her blog recently.**" Hinoe motioned over to the laptop, and Ayumi understood.

She stood up and walked over to the laptop to open it and checked Naho's blog.

"**It's a new fortune ritual. Brings good luck by channeling with the life force within a person's willpower.**"

Ayumi slowly read the post over before smiling with content. "**Thanks, sis. This could be useful sometime.**"

Hinoe walked over to the door. "**Anytime, Ayumi.**"

Ayumi closed the laptop and checked her phone's calendar. December 14 was Naomi's birthday. The ritual could be used to give everyone good luck and prosperity, she thought. It would be perfect. She soon changed into her sleep clothing and went over to her bed to fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_Beep. _Yoshiki's alarm continued beeping throughout the morning as he struggled to get up from his bed, shielding his face from the rising sun in the process. The air was still as humid as before. The air conditioner, he thought. It was still broken ever since summer. He needs to get that fixed soon, but money is a problem. He checked his phone for the time: _Thursday, October 29 - 7:45 AM._

Yoshiki starting on his normal daily routine: brushing his teeth, washing up, getting dressed, make breakfast and off to school. He had some reason to stay enrolled in school, and that hope can go a long way. He didn't own his hope; it was borrowed from someone else. From Ayumi.

_Ayumi._ The name repeated itself in his mind as he walked up the road that leads to Kisaragi. That was when he caught sight of her walking over the hill on his street. Deciding in a flash, he rushed out to catch up.

"**Shinozaki!**" called Yoshiki.

Ayumi turned around cautiously and caught sight of the boy with the bleached hair. Kishinuma, here? He must live close if he's able to catch up with her. She did see him walk home using the same route. Another question was on her mind: is Yoshiki really here and not skipping?

"**Oh. Hi, Kishinuma!**"

She waited for him to catch up and they walked to school together. There wasn't much communication between the two on the way there; there simply wasn't anything to talk about. It just felt safe for her to walk alongside a fellow student.

Yoshiki noticed a candle wick protruding out from Ayumi's skirt pocket. He thought it was rather, strange, so he brought it up as a question.

"**Uh, Shinozaki?**"

"**Mmm? What's up?**"

Yoshiki scratched his head. "**Why is there a candle in your pocket?**"

"**Oh, this?**" Ayumi proceeded to take the white candle out from its place. "**It's for… rituals I guess.**" She started to look down at the ground as she tucked it back in

Yoshiki nodded. He didn't really know much about Ayumi. He didn't really know much about people in school really. His attendance over the summer weeks were at a poor quality They soon reached the school and entered, saying quick farewells on their way to class.

Yoshiki entered his homeroom, 1-5. He proceeded to sit at the back of the room and dozed off, as always. Hosokawa noticed this and after checking his name in the attendance, he started to approach Kishinuma.

"**Kishinuma,**" said Hosokawa, observing him in his sleep.

Yoshiki woke up and sat straight as soon as he heard his voice.

"**Yes, sir?**"

The teacher slowly stroked his chin and sat down in the chair beside him. "**I noticed your performance has increased lately.**"

Yoshiki gave a quick nod and looked away for a while. "**I've been thinking about… school. I guess I can make it to graduation.**"

"**I see.** **It's good that you're staying enrolled.**" Hosokawa let out a sigh. "**Many jobs or other schools require a high school diploma now.**"

"**I know… hey. Is this school a good school for an education?**" said Yoshiki looking back, wondering if this school was worth the trouble.

The teacher thought about this question for a while before giving an answer.

"**You know, Kishinuma,**" he began. "**A good school doesn't mean a good education. There is a very big difference between the two.**"

Yoshiki's expression changed into that of curiosity. "**What do you mean?**"

"**Education, you see, is not simply given. It is something people must work to attain.**" He paused to look around the room at his fellow classmates. "**Sound learning is a want for knowledge, a lust for the truth; building knowledge as opposed to wallowing in ignorance.**"

"**Hmm…**" murmured Yoshiki as he comprehended his teacher's words.

"**Society has, uh, deprecated the concept. It's up to the point where you might get… ostracized for trying to practice it. Some teachers here aren't exactly fond of it either. **_**They**_** chastise people for asking too many questions.**" Hosokawa's eyes darkened a bit at the mention of the term, "they."

Yoshiki took this opportunity to mention the gym teacher. "**Like Tsubota?**"

"**Yes,**" Hosokawa replied, his tone shifting at the sound of that name. "**He's not a good teacher, I'll admit that. He has the wrong type of… discipline.**"

Yoshiki can regretfully remember the words of the arrogant PE teacher when he caught him smoking for the second time on school property. He was a total asshole, Yoshiki thought. This teacher, by the way, isn't so bad. He could consider him as a councillor of sorts.

The school bell rang and Hosokawa stood up. "**You mentioned you lived alone, right? You work for the rent?**"

"**Yeah, in a guitar shop.**" Yoshiki handed the business card of the guitar emporium he worked in. Hosokawa gave a quick nod.

"**I've met your parents, and they aren't exactly nice people,**" he finished, walking away to leave the class for the rotation of the teachers.

Yeah, that seems right, Yoshiki thought. They were bad parents. _Bad parents raise bad kids._ Tsubota's words reverberated in his head.

The class stood up and headed off for their first period class—PE. Nothing really special happened during the 70 minute period of physical work, lead by Mr. Tsubota. The period after was math, followed by a foreign language class—English.

Lunch soon came after, and Yoshiki was still eating up on the roof. Not that anyone seemed to mind anyway; nobody ever came up to the roof except for the custodians or any engineers. It was a place for solitude and thoughts came to him as he sat on the railings, fulfilling the purpose of what some of his peers called him a "loner."

* * *

The afternoon soon went by, nothing really significant happening in his classes—Socials and Home Economics—besides the fact that Yoshiki is actually attending school today. It was something he never thought to be possible, but he's doing it now.

When the day ended, he soon packed up at the sound of the last school bell and began to walk for the school exit. Reaching the exit, he noticed a little girl dressed in a blue smock and white collar—the Kisaragi Junior High girl's uniform. She carefully approached the blond haired boy.

"**Do you know where my big brother is?**"

Yoshiki took a good look at her to see if she looked familiar. "**Uh, I don't think so.**"

She frowned for a bit before asking something else. "**Do you want to go look with me?**"

Yoshiki stared at his phone cover for the time—3:56 PM. Deciding he still has time to look for this random kid's brother, he gave a slight hint of a smile.

"**Sure, we'll go look for your brother. What's your name?**"

She hesitated for a bit. "**Mochida Yuka.**"

_Mochida._ Where had he heard that name from? It sounds so familiar.

"**Alright, let's go then,**" said Yoshiki.

As he said this, he noticed a small container of beads on the ground. Yuka was ahead, but he took his time to look at it. Picking it up, he found nothing interesting with it and placed it back down and ran to catch up with her.

He kept pondering on the name Mochida throughout their walk around Kisaragi. They walked together in silence, mostly Yuka doing the looking since Yoshiki had no idea of what he looked like.

It wasn't until shortly after Yoshiki checked the time on his phone—4:06 PM—that he heard her spoke.

"**Big brother!**"

Yoshiki observed as she ran towards a brown haired boy dressed with the white Senior High uniform. He spun around as he heard her sister's voice.

"**Oh, Yuka! There you are!**"

Both of them held each other in a brief embrace before Satoshi noticed Yoshiki watching. He pulled out of Yuka's grip to address the blonde that was waiting.

"**Hey... you helped my sister, right?**"

Yoshiki nodded, still trying to see if he knew him.

"**I'm Mochida Satoshi, by the way.**" He gave Yoshiki a brief bow. The name didn't ring any bells, but it still seems like he knew him before.

"**Kishinuma Yoshiki.**" Yoshiki returned the bow. He saw Satoshi's expression shift for a moment. "**Something... wrong?**" he asked in curiosity.

"**Big brother...,**" said Yuka in uneasiness.

Satoshi glanced around at the empty hallway, eyes struggling to meet his gaze. "**Oh, uh no. I've heard about you before, and the fight.**"

Yoshiki could remember that dumbass that wanted it. That guy walked out of the hospital with a broken nose, which was worth the disciplinary action from the principal.

"**Do you wanna like, be friends?**" asked Satoshi, noticing Yoshiki's sudden change of mood. He tried to ignore it though.

The question broke Yoshiki out of his trance-like state. "**Sure,**" replied Yoshiki. It wouldn't hurt to have a friend around, especially one who seems genuine. They started to walk down the hallway.

"**Great!**" said Satoshi, sighing in relief. "**You doing anything today?**"

Yoshiki took a peek over at his phone. 4:10 PM. He decided it was time for him to go.

"**Actually, I have to leave for my, uh... part-time job.**" Yoshiki began to walk towards the exit.

"**Oh. Wait, you don't have any family?**" asked Satoshi, confused.

Yoshiki stopped to answer his question, "**I used to have one. I left them.**"

He walked away after saying those words.

"**Big brother…**"

Satoshi looked down at her little sister and patted her on the head. Yuka was checking her pockets, acting worriedly.

"**C'mon,**" said Satoshi, "**let's go home.**"

"**But… I lost something!**" protested Yuka. "**It was in my pocket!**"

Satoshi scratched his head. "**Ok… I guess we'll find it, together.**" He started to search the halls with Yuka, just like what she had done with Yoshiki before: searching. Searching for something lost.

* * *

It was after 5 PM when Yoshiki arrived at the guitar shop for his shift. He had changed his outfit after arriving at home to get ready for his job. He spotted the manager at the door and he gave a nod, indicating that his shift was about to begin. Sighing, he took his place at the counter and awaited customers. He noticed the previous cashier leaving, giving Yoshiki a quick wave as he walked out, which he returned the gesture.

He sharply inhaled and was met with the scent of fresh wood, along with his ears filled with sounds from shoppers testing out guitars with the amplifiers that were also on sale. There wasn't much going on, especially during a workday or a school day when everyone else was occupied. It's usually during the evenings when customers would fill the building; weekends also tend to be popular factors for a gathering inside the shop.

Nothing was out of the ordinary until after 8 PM, when he noticed somebody familiar walk into the shop. His teacher. Hosokawa slowly walked in the store and took a good look around before noticing Yoshiki at the counter. His normal toughened expression loosened up a bit at this moment, and Yoshiki nodded. Hosokawa then went to browse the selection of guitars.

After a short while, Yoshiki's teacher came up to the counter holding a _Vintage 1970 Fender Telecaster_ and placed it on the table. He didn't know his teacher was a guitar player, or maybe he was buying it for his friend or maybe his kids if he had any; Yoshiki didn't know much about Hosokawa's personal life, anyway.

Yoshiki scanned the barcode with the scanner and the price read _$1,140_. It's a rather big investment, thought Yoshiki. But this was Hosokawa's life, not his. Shouldn't be trying to get into other people's life so much.

Hosokawa dug around in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. From there, he pulled out his credit card and swiped it across the reader and entered his pin code. Yoshiki waited until the receipt printed out and then took it out of the printer and handed it over to Hosokawa, along with the guitar case.

While doing so, Hosokawa handed Yoshiki a note.

"**You know what to do.**"

Hosokawa left shortly after relaying those words and Yoshiki was still in the process of examining the note. He finally received the message as his expression exploded into satisfaction.

As soon as his daily shift was over at 8 PM, he packed up and went home, note clutched in hand. Walking along the dark road that was filled with occasional cars passing by, he reached the familiar crosswalk that lead to his apartment block on the other side of the street.

He soon reached his apartment suite and went in. Yawning, he put down the note on the table in his room and went over to his kitchen to grab a frozen entree from the freezer and put it in the microwave. He punched in four minutes and pressed start. This would be his dinner for tonight. He noticed his hand smelled like caramel, but he dismissed it as part of the entree; it had a brownie as a dessert anyway, so it probably came from that.

Yoshiki went over to his couch and grabbed the TV remote. He switched it on and kept browsing channels for anything decent to watch to kill the time.

* * *

"**Do you like it?**"

Seiko stood in the middle of the school foyer, showing a container full of brown beads to Ayumi. She studied it for a while before giving her opinion.

"**Yeah… it smells like caramel. Where'd ya find it?**"

Seiko glanced down at the floor. "**I found it dropped somewhere on the ground.**"

"**Oh.. that's… strange I guess,**" replied Ayumi. She observed as Seiko pocketed the container in her pocket of her uniform.

"**Wonder what's Naomi's up to,**" wondered Seiko in despair. "**Oh well… let's just go home. It's getting late.**"

Ayumi looked at her phone—8:24 PM. "**Yeah, I agree.**"

They both walked out of the school and climbed down the steps when Seiko suddenly tripped over the stairs and let out a scream of agony.

"**Ow, shit!**"

Ayumi quickly reacted and noticed Seiko sprawling on the ground. She helped her up and asked, "**Are you alright?**"

"**Yeah, but**…"—she looked at her legs and noticed it—"**I think I sprained my ankle.**" The area was starting to get redder and redder and Seiko kept it raised.

"**Alright, well… stay here. I'm going to get some ice from the school.**" Ayumi stood up and ran back in the school. She quickly made her way to the cafeteria. It was pretty late, and some of the custodians closed some of the doors but none of them blocked her path.

The cafeteria lights were off, the only source of light seeping in from the windows. She found the kitchen and grabbed a paper towel to wrap the ice with. After opening the freezer and taking some ice and wrapping it, she ran back outside to Seiko. She wasn't athletic by any means, so she was out of breath and fatigued quickly.

Taking the ice from Ayumi's hand, she put it over the affected area. "**Thanks,**" croaked Seiko as she winced in pain.

Ayumi thought about an idea for a second before planning to act on it. She took some tape from her backpack and some cloth from textiles class and made a makeshift cast. She could always get more cloth for her project from home; they have a lot of other pieces and samples anyway.

Seiko made an attempt to stand up. Although she struggled, she eventually made it with Ayumi's help once more. "**I really appreciate it, Shinozaki,**" said Seiko, smiling.

Ayumi nodded and smiled back. "**Let's just get home before something else happens.**"

They both walked down the street together, Ayumi helping Seiko as she limped.

"**So, what're you going to do for Naomi's birthday?**" asked Seiko.

"**I… guess I have some special ritual for the occasion.**"

Seiko snickered quietly. "**Haha, of course you do.** **Maybe you should find another for my birthday.**"

They both walked together in silence after that, until Ayumi spoke. "**I should call Mochida and ask him to come for the party.**"

"**Yeah, I bet he'd **_**really**_** want to go. I wonder what gift he has for her.**"

After walking for a few minutes, she reached her house and unlocked the door with her keys. As soon as she entered and closed the door, she went upstairs into her room. After changing her outfit, she preceded pick up her phone to call Satoshi. There was a hint of nervousness on her fingers as she browsed her phonebook.

"_**Hello?**_" came Satoshi's voice.

"_**Hey, Mochida. I was wondering if you'd like to come to Nakashima's birthday in December.**_" Ayumi's eyes paced nervously around the room.

There was a pause before he spoke again. "_**Sure. I'll be there.**_"

"_**Ok, cool. Bye now!**_" Ayumi hung up and put her cellphone back down on her table. Suddenly, she heard Hinoe call for her from the living room. She went out of her room and went downstairs to get to whatever Hinoe wanted.

"**You came home pretty late.**"

Ayumi yawned for a bit before replying. "**My friend and I were at school, finishing up school work. Then she sprained her ankle, so I had to help her.**"

"**I see,**" said Hinoe. "**Hey, guess who's on the news?**"

Ayumi took a look at the TV and noticed the person talking. "**Isn't that Saenoki?**"

"**Yep. Remember how I told you about her chance of winning the Akutagawa award?**"

Ayumi nodded, recalling Hinoe's words from before.

Hinoe laughed. "**Well, here she is, haha! Winning it.**"

Ayumi looked at Naho on the TV. She didn't look that much younger to her.

"**Wow,**" said Ayumi in awe. "**I know I'll be like her, successful and talented.**"

"**That's the Ayumi I know!**" remarked Hinoe. They both continued to watch as Naho was getting commemorated.

* * *

Yoshiki read the news flash caption: _Saenoki Naho wins Akutagawa award. _He didn't really know what it was about and he kept watching as he finished up eating his microwaved entree.

"_**I would like thank Kou Kibiki as my mentor, Sayaka Ooue for...**_"

The TV signal was shut off when Yoshiki hit the power button on the remote. He discarded the empty entree tray into the trash bin and brushed up in his bathroom. Soon after, he went off into his room.

Yoshiki noticed the note from Hosokawa on his table, and he stood there, staring at it. At last, he finally knew what he had to do to get revenge on Tsubota, that fucking piece of...

His thoughts were abruptly cut as he collapsed on his bed, tired and exhausted He needed the rest.


End file.
